Snake vs. Newt

After more than 10 years of land acquisition, planning, design and preparation, the Ni-les'tun Tidal Marsh Restoration Project at Bandon Marsh Refuge took place from 2010 to 2011, summer to summer. After more than a century of impoundment, tides again wash over the marsh, providing habitat for shorebirds and salmon smolts alike.

Rachel Carson described the high-energy antics of these shorebirds thus: “[Running] with a twinkle of black feet…keeping in the thin film at the edge of the ebbing surf, where puffs of blown spume or seafroth rolled like thistledown.” Sanderlings race up and down Oregon's beaches and estuaries every winter, gorging on invertebrates.

As tireless pollinators of plants both wild and cultivated, native bumblebees play an essential ecological role on the Oregon coast. Comprising nearly 30 species, Pacific Coast bumblebees are threatened by maladies introduced by non-native bees; some varieties have all but disappeared.